"Practically Starving!"

Leslie Combemale does it again! This fabulous depiction of Ursula, including a gratuitous shot of her colossal behind, came from ACME (who are apparently running very low on LM cels at the moment).

The strangely truncated image is due to editing of a slightly poorer shot to bring the image into proper proportion. Hey, it's hard taking a picture of a cel with good lighting and at the right angle on an iPhone!

This piece cost $800. Photographic background. Unframed in an ACME cardboard envelope. The authentication seal is in the bottom right corner.

"Under The Sea"

This was bought at the same time as the "Go On And Kiss The Girl!" and "What Is It?" cels. Again, I almost didn't get this one due to affordability (When buying these things more than one at a time, it frays the purse strings somewhat!). Nevertheless, I was really keen on this cel as it shows Sebastian in his element, in the full swing of the award winning song Under The Sea. His expression is clear (unlike most frames from this shot, which are somewhat distorted).

 

I haven't actually come to posess this piece physically. When I bought it, I did so under an extended lay-away plan with ArtInsights. I paid the piece off well ahead of time, but opted to leave it at the gallery until I could afford to have it framed or negotiate in trade. It seems, however, that every time I get some money, I buy another cel. Leslie is currently holding four pieces for me, all of which I hope to have framed by her... eventually.

From what I know, there is one cel for sebastian, one or two for some of the clams, and the rest of the clams are on the background. I think the mood of this piece is vibrant, exciting and absolutely wonderful!

This piece cost $1000. Photographic background. Unframed in an ACME cardboard envelope. The authentication seal is in the bottom right corner.

"Go On And Kiss The Girl!"

This one was bought at the same time as the "What Is It?" cel. I almost didn't get it because it was quite dim and the photograph they sent of it wasn't the best. Leslie convinced me that I would be happy with it, and I'm really glad she did! If you look at it in the right lighting (certainly not direct lighting!) it's a really good shot of the pair of them in the boat smiling, looking at each other and holding hands. It's also one of the few shots which actually shows both of them and some of the singing wildlife at the same time. I consider it a wonderful addition to my collection!

As you can see, really hard to get a good photo of. In the movie, the fireflies had airbrushed cels, which are missing here. The cel setup is curious too: One for the water, one for the boat, one for the couple, and two for the fireflies. I think that the overall thickness of the cels makes it that much more difficult to take a decent picture, and the flies are on the top. Removing them gives a clearer view of Ariel and Eric. Maybe it is best there's no airbrushed cels; you mightn't see anything at all! The thickness also makes the whole setup heavier to hold.

This piece cost $1500. Photographic background (original background sold at Sotheby's in 1990). Unframed in an ACME cardboard envelope. The authentication seal is on the right, towards the bottom.

"What Is It?"

A little while after the last round of cels was paid off and I was hunting around again for more, I found a couple and asked Leslie for her opinion. She asked if I was in the market for more cels and sent another request to ACME for any more cels they might have found (apparently, they don't even know what they have!).

This one came in an email with a list of others, and was the one above all others in the email that I though "definitely!". Such a close-up with a strong expression. Although she's large in this image, in the movie there are only two frames in total from this shot (this one included) that are decent; all the others are in a form of tweening.

A bright beautiful expression on this one! This cel is a little smaller than all my other cels, but the image is still quite quite large. Under the cut-off line around her elbows, you can see the outlines of her forearms, waist and part of her tail. These are good examples of the extra unseen work that the animator does when drawing. As I once read: To know what the head is doing, you must know what the shoulders are doing; to know what the shoulders are doing, you must know what the torso is doing. Hence they draw more to get her posture right.

This piece cost $1500. Photographic background. Unframed in an ACME cardboard envelope. The authentication seal is on the right, towards the bottom.

"Gee, You Must Have Really Been Through Something..."

My second/third piece (bought at the same time as the "Look At Ya" cel) which I bought through Leslie Combemale from ArtInsights. When I saw this one, I knew immediately that I wanted it. While waiting for Leslie to get back to me with prices (she showed them to me first to see if I was actually interested) I was losing sleep wondering when she was going to reply (she being approximately 13 hours behind me; and hence is on a completely different timetable) or even IF she had replied as I was lying in bed, trying to sleep.

This is one of my very favourites. It has that tender gazing into the eyes and closeness of the two main characters. The expressions on their faces accurately capture their feelings: concern and helplessness on Eric and Ariel respectively. I've seen other cels from this scene, and none of them have captured the mood as well as this one.

This cost $1800. Both characters are on the same cel. Photographic background (original background was sold at Sotheby's with another cel from this scene in 1990). Unframed in ACME cardboard envelope. The authentication seal is on the right, around the middle.

"Look At Ya!"

This was the second piece that I bought, at the exact same time as my third. It was found by Leslie Combemale from ArtInsights especially for me through her contacts at the ACME Archives. She actually contacted them looking for any Little Mermaid cels still lying around. Of course I had a list of favourites, and of course they've run out of shots from those scenes, bu they did have some beautiful ones I had never thought of before!

It's another nice shot of Ariel with a happy expression. Not the best pose of Scuttle but his gesture captures what he's saying.

This piece cost $2200 and is the most expensive on in my collection to date. It's actually an interesing setup as each component is on a separate cel (4 total): Scuttle, Ariel, Ariel's Reflection and one just for the ripples in the water. Photographic Background (original background was sold at Sotheby's in 1990 with another setup). Currently unframed; came in a cardboard envelope that ACME uses to distribute cels. The authentication seal is on the bottom left.